Issue 568

Shooglenifty - album review

Shooglenifty

29 Jan 2007

FOLK Shooglenifty have been around long enough to defuse the element of surprise in their musical fusions, a process hastened by the pervasive genre-expanding influence they have exerted over the years. If it no longer packs the sheer novelty it once…

Hitlist - The best events, talk and sport

29 Jan 2007

Your Sound Networking event for unsigned bands. King Tuts, Glasgow. Sun 4 Feb.

Future Pilot AKA - album review

Future Pilot AKA

29 Jan 2007

INDIE It’s a mystery why Sushil K Dade doesn’t enjoy more than the modicum of Glasgow-centred respect he currently holds. This is possibly because the amount of A-list names he attracts to contribute to his records might overshadow his own…

National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland - album review

National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland

29 Jan 2007

JAZZ The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland’s associated Jazz Orchestra has been around now for a decade, and issued a CD featuring the music of pianist Nikki Yeoh seven years ago. This second disc features two suites by Scottish composers at…

Joe Zawinul - album review

Joe Zawinul

29 Jan 2007

JAZZ A feast for Weather Report devotees, and a treat for anyone who just likes top quality big band playing. Joe Zawinul celebrated the 25th anniversary of the break-up of Weather Report in glorious style in this concert with the excellent WDR Big…

Some Young Pedro - album review

Some Young Pedro

29 Jan 2007

ROCK Glasgow, it seems, will never tire of bands like Some Young Pedro. Kind of like a testosterone-fuelled Mogwai, they subvert ideas of what are commonly referred to as listenable music with a collection of mostly instrumental power-riffs…

Various - Get While the Getting’s Good - album review

Various

29 Jan 2007

CHEERY SCOTTISH ECLECTICA If this is the future of Scottish music, then it has a big broad smile on its face. Often it may be a broken one (such as in Jock Scot’s barroom brogue of ‘Barcelona’), sometimes it’s the scary kind with the thousand yard…

Lady Sovereign - album review

Lady Sovereign

29 Jan 2007

GRIME POP When people first began getting their pantaloons in a twist about London’s Grime scene, much of the media rumpus was concentrated around mini MC Lady Sovereign. After a year of set backs and a chance meeting with Jay Z (he signed her to his…

Bloc Party - album review

Bloc Party

29 Jan 2007

INDIE It would seem that all is not well in the Bloc Party camp. On this rather disappointing second effort their lyrics are infinitely bleaker, melodies more melancholy and the riffs leaner and meaner than ever before. ‘Song For Clay (Disappear…

Hedrons, The - album review

The Hedrons

29 Jan 2007

ROCK Impressive influences do not a great band make... Towers of London alone are proof of that. This lot could teach them a thing or two, however, as, although they clearly worship at the alters of Hole, Blondie, Joan Jett and Ramones, the all-girl…

Jamie T - album review

Jamie T

29 Jan 2007

INDIE Instantly labelled as a ‘troubadour’, seemingly this year’s music journalism cliché de rigeur, Jamie T and his bass guitar pop has enjoyed a year of steadily conscripting devotees to his cause. Striking a lyrical balance between mockney…

Little Barrie - album review

Little Barrie

29 Jan 2007

GARAGE BLUES Little Barrie’s Edwyn Collins-produced debut We Are Little Barrie proved a low-key, cult album, better received outside the scene fetish of the British Isles. Here, the three-piece returns with a change in line-up, a noticeably higher…

Zombina and the Skeletons - album review

Zombina and the Skeletons

29 Jan 2007

ROCK They may have released their first offering five years ago but Zombina and the Skeletones are still waiting to make their big splash. Without a doubt, Death Valley High should be it as not only does it contain their most infectious material to…

Desert Hearts - album review

Desert Hearts

29 Jan 2007

INDIE ROCK Once upon a time indie-bands had ideas and balls. But the current trend for nadger-crushingly tight jeans seems to have put a stop to that. Giving a slap to stage school rockers and banning the keyboards from the rehearsal rooms are…

Eddi Reader - album review

Eddi Reader

29 Jan 2007

FOLK After her triumphant homecoming with the best-selling Sings the Songs of Robert Burns, this new collection finds one of Scotland’s best voices continuing to mine the traditional vein in the company of folk heroes like John McCusker, Phil…

Various - Tronic: New Wave of Electronic Sounds - album review

Various

29 Jan 2007

ECLECTIC TECH A compilation featuring artists tied to Glasgow’s show-and-tell tech club of the same name, Tronic Volume 1 is an earnest endeavour championing a host of local electronic projects, but also proving more than just a little bit dull.

Marissa Nadler - album review

Marissa Nadler

29 Jan 2007

AMERICAN GOTHIC To the uninitiated Nadler’s faraway, gothic sensibilities and haunted, sirenic voice can be off-putting to say the least. As in previous outings morose balladry, velvety vocals and intricate guitar work are the order of the day here…

Rainbow faith

29 Jan 2007

The open-minded Metropolitan Community Church congregation bring history into their regular service this month, discussing queer heroes in the Bible, the MCC’s formation, spirituality and sexuality. A special inter-faith event will be held on Sun 25…

Make Your Own Kind of Music

29 Jan 2007

Last year, the Your Sound networking event (aimed at local unsigned bands who want to get in touch with the media and music industry) produced we are the PHYSICS (pictured) and The Dykeenies. It’s quickly become an essential date in the industry…

Shappi Khorsandi

29 Jan 2007

The British Iranian comedy market is getting busier by the second with messrs Djalili and Monahan already giving it a good name and Madame Khorsandi having recovered from dodgy shows in the past to storm the Fringe last August. Her tales of growing up…

Aquasky

29 Jan 2007

Three-headed breaks machine Dave Wallace, Kieron Bailey and Brent Newitt (better know as Aquasky) join Bass Syndicate this month. Originally releasing on Moving Shadow they now run their own label, Passenger, and sister label, 777, specialising in heavy…